DIY Art Ombre Drip Painting

A few weeks ago, I bought some canvases at Michael’s for 70% off, but so far had only used one for this painting. I was itching for something to do a few days ago, so I decided to pull out another one and go to town on another piece of DIY art. I was able to create this ombre drip painting in just a couple hours, start to finish.

I used paint from my stash of samples and leftovers. I started with a leftover can of Heirloom China, a gorgeous blue from Clark and Kensington at Ace Hardware, a can of white and leftover Mindful Gray by Sherwin Williams.

First I painted a few inches of white across the top, then added a few inches of the gray. Then for the remaining strips, I just added a little more of the blue to the cup of gray I started with, each stripe getting a little darker. For the last stripe, I just used the Heirloom China at full strength. I didn’t clean the brush in between each color, adding to the ombre effect by mixing a little of the lighter color with the darker shade.

Then I sprayed the whole thing down with water while it was still wet. I let it drip for a little while, about 3 minutes.

Then I flipped it over, and sprayed it down again, this time concentrating on the bluest section.

Again I let it sit  while it dripped color the opposite way. Then I sprayed a little more water, making the color run more. It was a pretty neat effect, but can you see at the top of the blue section where it started to really dilute the blue too much? That kind of bugged me.

So I quickly added more blue paint to the darkest stipe at the top, and immediately sprayed it down with water. While I loved that it covered the light spots, or at least made it blend better, it really made the whole painting pretty dark.

I flipped the painting again, after giving the blue a little time to dry, otherwise this next step would have made a mess. I took some of the white paint, and watered it down. Then I used a spray bottle to apply the white paint across the (now) top of the painting, allowing it to drip back into the dark blue spaces.

After it was done drying, I was going to add more blue the same way I had done the white, but I was afraid to lose the cool effect that was already going on, so I left it as is.

It’s found a place in our dining room, which picks up on all the other blue and white decor in there. It might eventually find it’s way to our bedroom once I get a chance to pull it together.

So, what do you think? Is it something you would try?

Thanks for stopping by – come again soon!

Eliesa